The Artifact Competition (Approaching Infinity Book 1)

by Chris Eisenlauer

  On the platform opposite the gravity trainer, the girls were all paired up and engaged in sparring exercises. Mei had partnered with Mai and they were leading the rest in the exercise by example. Though it didn’t show, Mei couldn’t concentrate quite yet on what she was doing. She was still too pleased with herself for what she had done to Jav. At three times normal gravity, Jav had struggled. At five times it would take him all day just to get up onto his feet. Black hate spread across her face at the thought of him spending the whole day trying and finally succeeding, but she knew through her experience with him that he probably would. She would have to savor his suffering when and where she could.

  While her body followed the routine pattern she watched him and her feeling of loathing continued to fester. From the beginning, she was resentful of what she saw as his intrusion here, but more and more she was beginning to hate him for his persistence. It was his persistence—since she couldn’t think of him as a person—that she viewed as a challenge and she would do whatever she could to see it stretched beyond its limit.

  Mai could see where her sister was looking and, more, knew what she was thinking. Jav’s body shook violently with the stress it was being subjected to, and she felt a mild pang of pity for him. She was beginning to admire him, though, for the very same trait in him her sister despised.

  • • •

  Jav did spend the entire day working his way up to his feet. But he didn’t stop there. Even after the artificial sun had shut down, Jav was still on the gravity trainer. In a pool of electric light, one of several that dotted the courtyard, Jav was walking through the movements of the third unarmed fighting form. Slow and unsteady, he followed the form, his face set hard, the front of his jacket stained muddy pink with sweat-thinned blood.

  Mai stood on the broad porch that fed into the main entrance of the villa, watching Jav in quiet awe. Training with Hol had never been easy, but Mai couldn’t remember anyone ever working quite so hard as this. She still hadn’t completely made up her mind about Jav, but his determination and the way Mei was treating him were both doing a fair job of deciding for her.

  Mao had come looking for her sister and joined Mai on the porch. She squirmed her head under Mai’s left arm and settled up next to her. They both had black hair shot with waves, Mai’s to just past her shoulders and Mao’s to just above hers. Mai wove her fingers through her younger sister’s more distinguishable curls and gave a gentle series of playful tugs.

  “What’s he doing?” Mao asked.

  “Practicing,” Mai said teasingly.

  Mao rolled her eyes. “Why’s he still out there?”

  Mai cocked her head thoughtfully and said, “I don’t know. Maybe he feels the life of the Ritual Mask ticking away and sees it as a race. Or maybe he just doesn’t realize that it’s gone past dinner time.”

  “That’s silly.”

  “I know what it is. It’s Mei! He’s afraid of her.”

  “I don’t think it’s any of those.”

  “No?”

  “Uh-uh.”

  “What do you think it is, then, Mouse?”

  “Hmm. . .” Mao narrowed her eyes and pondered for moments in serious thought. “I don’t know. But if he’s already at five, then he’s going to pass me up soon. I need to practice harder.”

  10683.105

  Every fifth day was a day off—the weekend—for the students, but Amia and Tani made it their habit to practice together first thing every weekend morning. In general, everyone else took advantage of the break and slept in so the twins were very surprised to find Jav spread out unconscious on the gravity block, which was still running. They shared a look and an instant of unspoken communication. Amia walked over to the podium and shut the gravity generator down. Tani stood over Jav with her hands on her hips, staring down at him. Nudging him—not too unkindly—with her foot provoked no reaction. She looked questioningly to Amia, who now stood by her side, and received a shrug in reply. They both reached down, hauled Jav up between them, and half dragged, half carried him into the villa.

  The twins brought Jav to the infirmary where an ancient little man greeted them with a scowl. His skin was dark and leathery, a sharp contrast to his thick, full head of stark white hair. He pushed a pair of round lenses further up the bridge of his nose with one finger, looking from one girl to the other, his eyes full of accusation.

  “Now it’s you two, eh?” he said. “What did you do to him? And so early in the morning. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

  “But Dr. Bell, we didn’t do anything,” Amia said.

  His face was screwed tight. He squinted and leaned forward as if a closer look at the girls would reveal the truth.

  “Honest,” Tani added.

  Satisfied, at least for the moment, the doctor grunted. “Put him over there.”

  The girls moved to do as they were told, dropping Jav onto one the six beds lined up in the main area of the infirmary. Once Jav was situated on the bed, a panel on the wall behind it lit up and began to display Jav’s vital signs.

  “Now tell me what happened,” the doctor said.

  Amia took the lead. “We just went out to practice, like we do every weekend, and found him lying there on the gravity trainer. It wasn’t set too high, only at five, but I think he—”

  “Only at five, you say? How long has he been training at five?”

  Their glossy black bobs moving almost identically, they regarded each other again, making Dr. Bell think of tricks with mirrors.

  “We don’t know,” they answered together.

  “And how long has he been training here at all?”

  Amia put a finger to her chin and thought for a second. “Well, he’s only been here about two months.”

  “Two months? And it was set at five?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Dr. Bell noticed that Tani was distracted, looking back into the interior of the infirmary where Lili was lying in another bed, still in a coma. “Are you sure you two had nothing to do with his present state? You do remember your teacher’s words, don’t you?”

  Tani turned to face Dr. Bell. “Yes, sir. We remember. And, no, sir, we didn’t have anything to do with his present state, except of course for bringing him here.”

  Amia continued, “I think he trained all night long. Mao said she saw him still practicing after dinner.”

  Dr. Bell was scrutinizing the display behind the bed. Unconsciously, he took Jav’s wrist in his hands and felt the strong, confirming pulse. He then ran two probing fingers over the bloody mess of Jav’s chin. Despite its appearance to the contrary and the pain it might offer, it was just a scrape. Dr. Bell cleaned it up and began to apply an ointment.

  Serious injury or not, all this attention to his chin, which really had been stripped almost raw, was making Jav wince and he started to come around. The doctor waited a moment then somewhat impatiently said, “Are you all right young man?”

  Jav rubbed his head and looked around. “I think so. Where am I?”

  “You’re in the infirmary. You have these two young ladies to thank for that.”

  Jav sat up and looked at Amia and Tani, bowing as best he could from the position he was in. “Thank you,” he said with a bit of uncertainty. Then he turned to the doctor. “The infirmary? Is there something wrong with me?”

  “Well,” the doctor said, becoming rather more impatient, “perhaps you could tell us that. They found you out cold on the gravity trainer, which was operating at level five. What happened?”

  Jav looked from inquiring face to inquiring face and felt a little ashamed and embarrassed. “I, uh, sat down to take a break. I don’t remember the time, but I think it was pretty late. I, well. . .”

  “Out with it, young man!”

  “I guess I fell asleep.”

  Dr. Bell was appalled. “You fell asleep? On an active gravity block?”

  Amia sighed and rolled her eyes dramatically, but Tani grinned and started backing out the room, lightly tugging at
her sister’s arm and getting her to follow.

  The doctor continued, “And just how long have you been training at five times gravity?”

  “Just yesterday, sir.”

  Now the doctor’s face was lit with a combination of real concern and budding excitement. “One day?” He shoved his face in front of Jav’s and stabbed the beam of a penlight into each of Jav’s eyes. “How do you feel?”

  “Light.” Jav nodded, agreeing with his own word choice.

  Dr. Bell backed off, folded his arms, and studied Jav. “Extraordinary.”

  “Well, is there anything wrong with me?”

  The doctor glanced fleetingly once again at the diagnostic panel already knowing what he would see. “You appear to be just fine” he said. “If you start to experience any dizziness or anything out of the ordinary, come see me at once.”

  “Then I can go?”

  The doctor nodded.

  Jav spun his legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, stretching his arms over his head as he did so. Now he noticed Lili further inside the infirmary. He moved over to her bed and sighed. The doctor stood beside him and patted him on the shoulder.

  “I’m doing all that can be done. I’m sure she knows how often you visit and how sorry you are.”

  Jav tried to smile but could not quite manage. “She seems so lonely.” And then he had an idea. “Doctor, today’s a fifth, isn’t it?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Thank you, doctor, for taking care of her and for taking care of me today.”

  “Well, it’s just doing my job. You’re welcome. Now go get yourself cleaned up. Filthy, bloody mess, you are.”

  Jav grinned and took his leave.

  10683.116

  Jav walked out to the gravity trainer as he always did first thing in the morning, but it wasn’t Mei who was waiting for him.

  “Mai?” Jav looked across to the other platform and saw Mei getting started with the rest of the girls. He turned back to Mai with a questioning look on his face.

  “From today on,” she said, “I’ll be responsible for your forms and gravity training.”

  Jav nodded respectfully.

  “Since I haven’t been teaching you from the beginning, let’s just go over the basics a little. The Eighteen Heavenly Claws is made up of nine unarmed fighting forms ordered in increasing difficulty. Do you remember?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Within the forms are eighteen different claw hand techniques, which is how the style got its name. The forms and the claw techniques are based on the movements of three mythical animals.”

  “Go on.”

  “The tiger roams the land, is grounded and represents strength and endurance. The eagle soars through the sky, is free and represents speed and intent. The dragon sports in heaven, ruling over all and represents spirit and enlightenment.”

  “Right. Mei tells me that you’ve completed the first three forms—the movements of the tiger—at five times gravity. Is that correct?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Okay. Let’s go through those three forms now together.”

  They proceeded through Tiger Stretches Its Limbs, then Tiger Reveals Its Strength, and finally Tiger Stalks Its Prey. Jav tried to concentrate on his own movements and on keeping pace with Mai. He was a little nervous since he had never practiced with her before, but of the girls, and with the possible exception of Mao, she seemed to dislike him the least. He wondered briefly if that would have any bearing on his training. Mei pushed him very hard, if only out of spite, and he had made relatively fast progress as a result.

  When they were finished, Mai nodded soberly. “Very good. Your stances are solid, your movements clean. The tiger is the foundation and is based on power. It builds strength and teaches some basic claw hands. Today, I’ll show you the first of the eagle forms, Eagle Defends Its Nest, which emphasizes focus and precision. Set the gravity at twelve.”

  “Twelve,” Jav repeated, mildly surprised. Mai was not the smallest of the girls but she was petite and working at twelve times gravity was a little beyond what he had expected. Mei had never bothered to set the trainer at anything higher than what Jav was using and he could only guess what her normal training level might be. He did know that the trainer was a standard model and as such only went up to twenty-five.

  He did as instructed and began watching Mai. And again, she was more than he expected. She fairly danced upon the gravity block, moving with unprecedented speed and grace. The air whistled as her fingers cut through it, and at the end of every strike, she stopped, sharp and crisp. Her stances, too, she held perfectly, like a die-cast statue, without any excess movement or lapse of balance.

  He was more than impressed. For the first time he really noticed her, how pretty she was, and for an instant a spell of vertigo descended on him like a crushing weight. In that instant he knew Mai, had known her for many years, had loved her and lost her and now found her again. But then as he watched her that feeling faded, just as a dream fades upon waking, and no matter how hard he tried to keep it whole and in focus, it continued to slip away until it was very nearly gone. But its effects persisted. He was left with a deep-seated admiration for her, perhaps irrationally so for the amount of time he actually had known her, but there it was. He didn’t know why and he didn’t much care, but he was glad that Mei had been so disgusted with his perseverance that she had given Mai the repulsive task of personally training him, for that is most surely what had happened.

  Mai finished the form and when she looked at Jav, she was instantly self-conscious. He was still staring in rapt attention and Mai was beginning to think that maybe he was making fun of her, that she had something on her face or had made a mistake in the form. Of course Jav wouldn’t know if she had or not.

  She scowled at him. “What? Stop looking at me like that.”

  Jav shook his head clear. “I’m sorry. That was really impressive.”

  She still wasn’t sure what to make of him just yet and continued to eye him suspiciously. “Okay. Here, watch me again and we’ll go over the first five steps together.”

  “Okay.”

  They worked on the form for about twenty minutes until Mai was satisfied. During the few moments of pause that followed, Jav found himself watching the girls on the sparring block across from them. “Mai? Why does Mei bother to train me?”

  “Why? Because she’s been told to.”

  “If she hated me as much as she seems to, she could find a way to excuse herself from training me, and not just from forms.”

  Mai shrugged. “I don’t think she thinks you can catch up to her, let alone surpass her, in time for the competition.”

  Jav nodded.

  “Also, being involved in your training gives her a chance to harass you.”

  “Well, that’s true enough. Why do you think I train?”

  “Because you feel the overwhelming weight of obligation, having received special treatment and essentially cut in line?”

  “There’s only so much responsibility I can take for that. If you’re really looking for someone to blame, you should look a little higher. But that’s one reason.”

  “Obviously, if you don’t train hard enough, you’ll either be killed in the competition or die shortly thereafter if you don’t manage to win a new Artifact.”

  “That is a very persuasive reason, but it’s not the most important one. Not to me. I told you all that before I came here the only thing I could remember was being very, very angry. Something left me feeling so helpless that it pushed me into a mindless rage and cost me my memory. I have no idea what it might have been or even the true scale of it, and it doesn’t matter. My life was wiped clean. All I had was rage with no way to satisfy it. The Ritual Mask changed that. Suddenly I had—what seemed to me—unlimited power and my anger was transformed into real, physical violence. The perfect solution to any problem, right?” They shared a grin.

  “But fighting with the Ritual Mask,” Jav said, shaking his head,
“it’s like a dream. It’s like a fantasy—bloody, vindictive. . . satisfying. I don’t like the part of me that enjoys it. I accept that that part of me exists, but I don’t want to indulge it, consciously or unconsciously.

  “At first I thought I really was in control. I mean, I was able to do things that were impossible before, but I soon found that I couldn’t stop. The Mask’s hunger for blood is stronger than my will. So even though I can destroy just about anything that gets in my way, I’ve simply traded one kind of helplessness for another. I’m tired of that. I don’t want to be a passenger while some primitive part of my brain takes over and lets the higher functions watch.

  “I won’t deny the value—or even the necessity—of Artifacts, but I want the power they supply to supplement who I am, not dominate or determine who I am. I want to choose my fights and I want to fight them with skill, not with mindless savagery. So I train. Because I want to be good at something; to understand every angle, every aspect, every nuance; to excel; to be the best at something that I’ve built up inside me and that’s intrinsically mine. I may never master it, but I feel that the Eighteen Heavenly Claws, not the Ritual Mask, is my second chance and I won’t let that go to waste. I’ll practice till I drop. Or until I achieve the strength, the skill, the discipline, and the vision to meet head on and with a clear mind anything that comes. That’s why I train.” Jav was nodding, finding satisfaction in hearing the words spoken. “I don’t care if the cracked Ritual Mask is a death sentence.”